ABZU

 PC
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 412 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 235 out of 412
  2. Mixed: 120 out of 412
  3. Negative: 57 out of 412

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  1. Ixnatifual
    Jan 2, 2017
    4
    I enjoyed playing this game. The gameplay is pretty simple and linear. You pretty much just swim around while looking at pretty things in form of the local flora and fauna. The graphics are not particularly advanced, but the art style makes it beautiful. The AI does a great job of simulating schools of fish.

    Have you ever seen those nature documentaries where a huge school of fish swim    I enjoyed playing this game. The gameplay is pretty simple and linear. You pretty much just swim around while looking at pretty things in form of the local flora and fauna. The graphics are not particularly advanced, but the art style makes it beautiful. The AI does a great job of simulating schools of fish.

    Have you ever seen those nature documentaries where a huge school of fish swim in a circle to protect themselves against predators and wondered what it felt like to be in the middle of that? Well, you can try that here. Kind of.

    The reason I'm giving a relatively low score is a combination of the game's length and the price tag. €19.99 is way too much for a game that lasts only two hours and has very little replayability. If you can get it at a discount at around 70% or more, and you want a relaxing game that doesn't challenge you, but gives you something nice to look at, go for it.

    I grabbed it at for €5.99 during a Steam sale and felt I mostly got my money's worth out of it.    … Expand
  2. HSuke
    Jul 30, 2019
    1
    This "game", if you could even call it a game, is dead boring.

    The best way to describe Abzu is that it's a visit to an aquarium where there are no exhibit descriptions. Abzu does not come anywhere close to being as beautiful or enjoyable either of its spiritual predecessors, Journey & Flower. Visually and aurally, it's almost as good as Journey. It has a beautiful soundtrack and    This "game", if you could even call it a game, is dead boring.

    The best way to describe Abzu is that it's a visit to an aquarium where there are no exhibit descriptions.

    Abzu does not come anywhere close to being as beautiful or enjoyable either of its spiritual predecessors, Journey & Flower.

    Visually and aurally, it's almost as good as Journey. It has a beautiful soundtrack and looks aesthetically pleasing, which isn't surprising it uses the same composer and art director.

    However, gameplay is completely dead. There is simply no gameplay. You're just swimming around in a giant aquarium going from point A to B to C ...

    The story is also nowhere close to the story of Journey, which can potentially be a really sad tale (depending on who you meet), especially you realize the giant twist at the end. Even Flower, which barely focused on story, had a more absorbing plot-line than Abzu.    … Expand
  3. fludziom
    Dec 22, 2016
    2
    Just bought it on sale and finished the same evening. Absurd game, stupid really. Childish. Bad controls. Short (thankfully). Performance issues. Didn't find it relaxing at all.
  4. KeyboardPlayer
    Oct 1, 2016
    0
    cant rebind keyboard. lazy. stupid. anachronistic. i can't believe that developers still haven't learned how to program an user interface. untollerable. have some respect for your customers.
  5. TitaniumDragon
    Mar 6, 2018
    0
    ABZU is an underwater walking simulator. You play as a nameless diver and swim through a linear underwater environment towards the end of the game.

    Rather than walk, you swim your way through the game. However, there is very little actual gameplay to be had here; there are, in principle, hazards, but in practice, they can’t actually hurt you, just stun you momentarily; they provide no    ABZU is an underwater walking simulator. You play as a nameless diver and swim through a linear underwater environment towards the end of the game.

    Rather than walk, you swim your way through the game. However, there is very little actual gameplay to be had here; there are, in principle, hazards, but in practice, they can’t actually hurt you, just stun you momentarily; they provide no barrier to your progress. There are a few “puzzles” which consist of “follow the power lines/chains from the gate to an object, then press the use key on the object to open the door”. Sometimes, when the game is going *really* crazy, there will be TWO such objects.

    What this game really lacks is… much of anything, really. The game doesn’t have any real story to speak of – there is no speech or text inside the game. What little “plot” there is happens entirely within the last three chapters, and isn’t terribly interesting.

    Mostly, the game exists so you swim around and look at the stylized fish and whales and other things swimming around you. That’s… really the core of the game, as far as I can tell, trying to look pretty, but it isn’t really anything special in that regard.

    The controls are functional but not very good – you can flip your character entirely around while swimming, but you can’t flip your camera entirely around, which makes for some awkwardness. There’s some collectibles, but they’re nothing really interesting, and certainly aren’t challenging, just being “spot the object” throughout the whole game (and if you miss one, good luck figuring out which one – I missed at least one of each on my playthrough of the game, but I certainly can’t be bothered to play through the whole game again to find them). There’s some achievements, but they’re all pretty trivial apart from the collectibles ones.

    And… that’s it, really. I left this experience quite bored, despite the fact that the game is under three hours in length, simply because there isn’t anything really to *do* in it but swim around and look at fish while going through a linear experience.    … Expand
  6. ChosenUndead99
    Apr 29, 2018
    4
    Although the short experience is quite enjoyable, the reason I don't recommend ABZÛ is the price. Many may disagree, but 90 minutes of gameplay to reach completion should not be priced at £15.
  7. andrew9
    May 4, 2022
    4
    Not a game .
  8. PeakZach
    Jan 14, 2022
    4
    Stunning and colorful, the journey through the sea never looked so beautiful. The game focuses primarily on it's stunning appeal, but does not offer a change of resolution. Following your basic exploratory game, no story combined with heavy guidance leaves for a mundane experience for advanced games that are looking for any sort of challenge rather than a fun-to-look-at chore.
  9. hoanns
    Jun 6, 2020
    3
    no mystery, no exploration, just a long tube level. you barely interact with the world. it's just 2h long barely interactive movie with nice but meaningless effects
  10. ErayTellezi
    Nov 17, 2020
    4
    Basit, gereksiz bir oyun. Eğlenceli değil, macera hissi veya anlatıldığı keşif keyfi yok.

Awards & Rankings

46
#46 Best PC Game of 2016
50
#50 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. Riot Pixels
    Jan 26, 2017
    60
    This interactive aquarium is a sight to behold, but not enticing enough to make me spend one more minute underwater.
    Read full review
  2. CD-Action
    Oct 14, 2016
    65
    Less than two hours of playing time is just right for Abzu’s shallow gameplay. The game offers a hefty dose of “beautiful moments” but fails to make any lasting impact. [10/2016, p.68]
  3. Pelit (Finland)
    Oct 12, 2016
    81
    Abzu's charming aquatic world is always softly in motion. A good-looking journey comes with repetitive and shallow gameplay and its pursuit of affecting emotions remains halfway. Still, execution being detailed and captivating it's definitely worth a dive. One of the best underwater exploration games out there. [Sept 2016]
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